Florida jobless rate drops in June as businesses reopen

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 10.4% in June from the previous month’s 13.7% rate as the state’s theme parks, beaches and other tourism-related businesses started reopening after weeks of coronavirus-related lockdowns, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday.

But the state’s economic future remains clouded by recent spikes in Florida’s COVID-19 caseload, as evidenced by this week’s showing that jobless claims almost doubled last week from the previous week, economists said.

Additionally, a host of large hotels have said that they are turning temporary furloughs from March into permanent layoffs at the end of July.

“Many businesses, particularly in South Florida, are facing a reduced demand and a lot of uncertainty due to the new surge in Covid-19 cases,” said Hector Sandoval, an economist at the University of Florida. “There are several companies in the accommodation and food services industry still announcing layoffs.”

Year-over-year, the hospitality industry has lost about 1 in 5 jobs in Florida, or 268,400 positions, the hardest-hit industry in the state.

Florida gained 296,000 jobs from June to May.

In June, there were more than 1 million jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 9.7 million workers.

The only industry gaining jobs over the year was construction with an additional 4,600 positions added.